August 12, 2011

I am noticing an increasing amount of light flooding through my windows. This can mean only one thing - it's soon time to plant new seedlings in my kitchen garden! Poor thing has struggled and suffered through the winter, but in a couple of week's time I feel safe to start planting and growing again.

In the mean while, I am making the most of what is left of winter's bounty. Especially oranges that have been in abundance this year, as apparently it has been a good season for the Aussie orange growers. If you have spare fruit, and about 10 minutes spare time, you can make a quick and light dessert with those oranges. These sweet soups are probably one of the most common desserts in Finland - or at least they used to be when I was a kid. You can make them with almost whatever fruit you have in season, like berries or rhubarb, and they are an ever-so-light finish to any meal. You could of course enjoy them with your morning porridge, or have as a light meal too.

Right now I can't think of anything better than a big bowl of orange goodness.

Orange Soup

(serves 2-3)

500 ml cold water

3 tablespoons potato starch

400 ml freshly squeezed orange juice

1 raw honey

juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Whisk the water and the potato starch in a saucepan. Bring to boil, whisking continuously (you don't want any lumps!)

2. Once thickened, turn off the heat and whisk in the orange juice, honey and lemon. Serve immediately.

I've never had a sweet soup before (except a strawberry gazpaco once...but that was more savoury with a sweet after-taste). Anyway, this looks really good! I've got a whole bunch of oranges sitting in the fridge, and I've got absolutely nothing to do with them, so this looks like a great idea.

A quick question though - where can you buy potato starch? I've looked for it for another recipe a while ago, but I couldn't find any (I live in Australia too, if that's any help...though quite a bit north from you!)

P.S Your beautiful photos, especially the one of the daisies, absolutely made my day! They're so wonderfully cheerful!

That looks so interesting! I've never had anything like this, but it looks delicious, and such a pretty color. I love how bright and spring like your pictures are :D And your tablecloth goes so nice with that soup, perfect colors.

You have made me feel spring has sprung! I too went around my herb pots and meagre garden beds yesterday, and made my list of necessities! I think my Mom sat me in front of the rhubarb version of this a lot of times, but I'll try it with orange tomorrow. On the Southern Highlands I too can't always access potato starch, but it seems widely available in Sydney stores, so it's a case of 'pretty please' to friends . . .